LibriVox Forum

Well whatever it is, it sounds great to me!

Our barbeque (scheduled for tomorrow as it turns out) will be a western style one. The beef is a big chunk that I will cut into steaks. I don't think I have the knife skills to slice paper-thin pieces for yakiniku.

Yes, I always admire people who can make anything paper-thin... can't do it at all myself - at least not quickly, and I lack the patience to spend hours on cutting things.

Have fun at your BBQ!

Paper thin slices of beef are a lot easier if you use a standard deli slicer. Just freeze the meet ahead of time and it works wonders. Watch your fingers though.

Actually you can slice meat thin using just a standard chef's knife too. Don't completely freeze the meat, just enough to make it a bit stiff. I par-freeze all just about everything I need to cut up.

Good idea to chill the meat before slicing. I haven't a deli slicer at hand, but I do have a mandoline that I find very handy for vegetables. Won't work on meat - too small.

Luckily the majority of beef in Japan is sliced wafer-thin for yakiniku, shabu-shabu and other dishes.

Kara, Gesine,

Now Spring is well under way, did either of you try that Caponata recipe? It's starting to get warm enough here for me to start making it, and I wondered whether either of you had.

Peter

No, haven't - but good idea. Should try it soon. The tomatoes are getting seriously good here.

I made the caponata (with a few variations to account for local produce) for a party of fifteen last night and it got raves. It really was the best I've ever made and perhaps the best I've ever eaten.

Thanks for sharing your recipe. I'll post my version on mediatinker.com on Thursday, in case you care to see how I adjusted it.

That's great! I loved it, too, when I made it ... such a powerful mixture of flavours and textures.

I'll have a look at what you've done to the recipe, at the end of the week.

Peter

Kristen,

Nice site; it'll be interesting to see whether you get any comments .. and any other experimenters trying the recipe. Why did you use anchovies rather than garlic? Antisociability of garlic? (I've never cooked with anchovies ... partly because I use fish so little anyway, partly because I've spent much of my life cooking for vegetarians.)

Peter

We have another Cookbook in the works if any of you feel like reading a bit on the topic: Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2440

=)

thistlechick wrote:We have another Cookbook in the works if any of you feel like reading a bit on the topic: Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2440

=)

Thanks, Betsie! Rufus Este's cookbook is busily accepting subscriptions from readers ...

-denny

Peter Why wrote:Why did you use anchovies rather than garlic? Antisociability of garlic? (I've never cooked with anchovies ... partly because I use fish so little anyway, partly because I've spent much of my life cooking for vegetarians.)

Some of the other dishes in my menu that night were garlic-heavy and I wanted to give the guests a break. I find that anchovies make a surprisingly good substitute for garlic - they add a certain depth and mouth feel to a dish that garlic also produces.

My favorite ever pasta sauce is putanesca: garlic, anchovies, capers, olives (green and black), crushed tomatoes - and spicy red pepper if desired. Takes about 5 minutes to make and never fails to please even those who don't like anchovies. The recipe, such as it is, is here:

http://www.mediatinker.com/blog/archives/007386.html

While I'm typing this, my room is full of the smell of vegetarian Worcestershire sauce simmering (vegetarian, because it doesn't include anchovies). It should be ready to bottle in a month's time. Lovely rich smell, eye prickling ... and, the way I'm making this batch, a fine way of using up the vinegar left from home-made pickled shallots. Anyone want the recipe?

Peter

Peter Why wrote:vegetarian Worcestershire sauce ...Anyone want the recipe?

Yes! That sounds wonderful.